Demon's Awakening
by geurudo
Summary: The third story in the Shadow series. A new treat emerges in Equestria and it is up to Shadow and the Elements of Harmony to stop this threat. There is only one problem. They don't know what form this threat is going to take.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everypony.  
Shadow is back with another adventure.  
Sorry for the wait, but i had to get all my ideas organized for this story. Enjoy.  
As for OC's, I am still accepting them, but as this story gets closer to the end, the new OC's won't like what they get.**

**Disclaimer: I own no MLP characters besides my four OC's. Hasbro owns the rest of the non-OC characters.**

Shadow's POV

It has one year since Celestia informed us of the impending attack. Since then, we all went our separate way to hone our skills. Applejack was training with Big Mac to increase her stamina and strength. Rarity was stocking up on jewels with the help of the diamond dogs, who she befriended. Rainbow Dash was keeping her training a secret from everypony else. Fluttershy was studying under Nurse Redheart to expand her knowledge of the medical field. Pinkie Pie was doing a little bit of everything with no clear focus, as was her way. As for Twilight and I, we decided to train together with Ebony and Ivory.

At the moment, I was resting against a tree in a clearing in Everfree Forest after one of the training sessions. We decided to train there because Ebony and Ivory were very protective of what they taught us. I was flipping through my record book, remembering every one of the human-turned-ponies that I had met.

Sky Sear had basically vanished after flight school and, according to Yuri, now lived in Cloudsdale with a stallion she had fallen in love with. She had also managed to get her cutie mark, which was a phoenix, in a race with Yuri and Rainbow Dash. Her talent is the ability to cloak herself in fire while flying a great speeds. It startled her enough when it appeared, that she flew into Rainbow Dash and accidently burned Dash's wings.

Yuri also got his cutie in that same race when he dove to save Rainbow Dash. He dove at such speeds, that he was mistaken by many to actually be a comet, thus explaining his winged-fireball cutie mark. After passing flight school, he met up with Cammo, and they left for Canterlot to join the royal guard. They easily passed the entrance exam and quickly worked their way up the ranks. Yuri is currently one of Celestia's personal guards while Cammo became the leader of the recently developed stealth division.

Angel Lily chose to stay in Ponyville and put her talents to good use. She opened up a shop that sells the herbs and flowers that she grows herself. She has also got over her shyness, due to the amount of parties she had been forced to go to, and is now one of the more sociable ponies in Ponyville. In her spare time, she visits Zecora, the resident rhyming zebra, to learn about potion brewing from an expert.

Ice Breath and my daughter had become inseparable. They had joined a group called The Cutie Mark Crusaders so that Ice Breath could find his cutie mark. The group had consisted of Sweetie Bell, a white unicorn who was Rarity's younger sister; Applebloom, a yellow filly and Applejack's little sister; and finally Scootaloo, an orange pegasus who was Rainbow Dash's biggest fan. When they're all together, they cause the biggest problems around Ponyville, but they usually don't get in as much trouble thanks to Mint's talent to calm people down.

Silver Lining, a teal unicorn with silver mane and green eyes, appeared not long after Cammo and Angel Lily graduated. She decided to take my job of teaching the new arrivals, and her cutie mark by doing so, which turned out to be the silver outline of a cloud. My presence was only needed at the school when a new pony appeared so I could record their information.

Ice Blitz, a cyan unicorn with a purple mane with red highlights, was the newest pony arrival. He is shy around most ponies, and he is currently still being taught. I haven't had much time to talk to him with my training and his efforts to avoid talking to everypony.

I closed the book and stood back up. I looked over to Twilight and asked, "You ready for round two?"

She smiled and replied, "Only if you want to lose this time."

"Bring it on." I goaded.

We each took a fighting stance and prepared to fight. Ebony and Ivory laid at the edge of the clearing and refereed. The rules they had set for us were quite simple. We fought until one of us surrendered, we could not use any attack that could cause serious harm to each other, and Ebony and Ivory would randomly attack us.

"Begin." The dragons announced.

I immediately launched several of my black spears at Twilight which she easily dodged and countered with a purple beam. I sidestepped it and appeared next to Twilight while kicking at her side. It connected and sent her flying a few feet. She quickly returned the favor by tangling my feet with a vine and firing the beam again. I stopped the beam with a barrier and cut the vines with a katana. Trying to catch her off guard, I formed a few of the spears above her.

"You're getting sloppy." I goaded.

"It has only just…" she started to say, but was cut off as she dodged the spears as I let them fall. "begun." She finished before firing multiple beams at my shield. "You're the one who hiding cowardly behind his shield." She taunted.

I lowered my shield and launched a few more spears. She dodged them as well, but she hadn't realized how close she was to the tree line.

"Manticore." I yelled pointing behind her.

She turned around ready to defend herself, but there was no manticore. She turned back to call me a liar, but she was met with the tip of my katana at her throat.

"Pay attention to your surroundings." I lectured, "Instead of looking away, you should have teleported to the opposite side of the clearing so you could keep an eye on me and check for the manticore."

I heard the roar of flames getting closer to me at an alarming rate. I grabbed Twilight and reappeared on the other side of the clearing.

I turned and yelled at Ebony and Ivory, "You'll have to do better than that."

I then jumped away from Twilight as she pulled my other katana from its sheath.

"You're learning quickly." I told her.

She smiled and lunged at me with the katana in her teeth. I parried and tried to slash her side, but she vanished before the blade connected. She reappeared above me and aimed at my neck, only for me to block yet again. I didn't have time to counterattack this time as she disappeared as soon as the blades connected.

"Looks like you finally perfected the spatial slip." I said impressed. "Now, if only you could use it more effectively."

"I'd like to see you to see you do better." Twilight taunted before stabbing at my flank, but hitting nothing but air.

"Your wish is my command." I whispered in her ear.

She immediately swung, but again I wasn't there. Before she could recover from that, I landed five successful blows with the blunt side of the katana. I struck both of her hind legs, her chest, the top of her head, and her hind end. The sheer speed startled her.

"How did you do that?" She asked.

Before I could answer, Ebony and Ivory attacked both of us. They tried to land a series of physical blows on us, but they couldn't. When they retreated back to the edge, I winked at Twilight and said,  
"Watch closely."

I disappeared and reappeared next to Ebony and Ivory shocking them. I used the same tactic against them as I did with Twilight. I disappeared the as my katana made contact only to reappear an instant later with the blade about to hit again. When they finally recovered from the shock, I teleported back over to Twilight.

"Did you learn anything?" I asked.

"Yes, I did. Instead of teleporting and then attacking, you teleport into an attack so that you reduce the amount of time your opponent has to act before getting hit. Then you teleport immediately after the attack so they can't retaliate." Twilight answered.

"Exactly, you want to try it out?" I asked.

"Yes, I do." She answered excitedly.

"Ok then, but use the back of the blade so you don't cause any permanent damage." I said.

Twilight flipped the blade around and ran towards me. She slashed at my face which I easily blocked. She teleported directly above me, but this time, I was barely able to block it. She repeated the process and actually managed to land a blow on my hind leg. She continued her assault for a little bit longer before stopping.

"How was that?" She asked panting.

"Very good. I could barely block the attacks towards my front, and the attacks to my other half, I had no chance of blocking." I praised.

Twilight beamed with happiness at that comment.

"Time to get going." I said, noticing how late it was getting.

"Ok, see you tomorrow." Twilight said before giving me back the katana and vanishing.

I gathered the rest of my stuff and teleported home with Ebony and Ivory.

Shadow's House

I appeared in my bedroom and quickly put away my stuff. As I left my room, I was confronted by Ebony and Ivory.

"That wasn't a very nice thing you did to us." They said angrily.

"Why should Twilight and I be the only ones learning anything." I countered. "You will be participating in fighting whatever threatens Equestria, so you should also be prepared. Plus, I needed to show Twilight the best way to use the spatial slip."

"We understand, but we will get you back for it." They said before flying off.

I walked down to the kitchen and started to make dinner for Mint and myself. As I was finishing up, I heard Mint walk in the front door.

"Daddy, can Icy stay the night tonight?" Mint asked calling Ice Breath by the nickname she gave him.

"Yes he can." I replied, thankful that I always make extra food for dinner.

"Thank you." She said before dashing out of the house. She was back in a few seconds with Ice Breath in tow.

"Have you eaten dinner?" I asked Ice Breath.

"No, I haven't." He replied.

I dished out three helpings of soup and set them at the table.

"Enjoy." I said as I started eating mine.

They sat down and hurriedly ate theirs so that they could spend as much time to play before bedtime. As soon as they finished, they bolted for Mint's bedroom. I chuckled at that display and continued to leisurely eat my soup. When I finished, I quickly washed the dishes and went to check on them. I peeked into her room and saw that they were sitting in her bed talking. I got a wicked idea.

I teleported behind them and started singing, "Mint and Icy sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

"Daddy!" Mint protested clearly embarrassed.

I laughed at how uncomfortable she was. At that, all her embarrassment quickly turned to anger. Her horn started to glow and a magical wind blow through the room, only it didn't carry the scent of mint leaves on it. I noticed what was happening and I smiled. It was time. The room started to grow colder and colder with each passing moment. Mint had no idea about was going on around her, but Ice Breath could clearly feel it. He relaxed and enjoyed the coldness. The room grew colder still and I used a simple heat spell to keep myself warm. Then, the glass of water next to Mint's bed started to freeze. I glanced over the Ice Breath to see if the cold was starting to get to him, but e was clearly enjoying it now. The sound of shattering glass woke Mint up from her rage.

"Did I do that?" Mint asked.

"Yes, and it looks like you finally learned the rest of your special talent." I said.

"The rest of my talent?" Mint asked confused.

"Your special talent is to magically recreate the effects of mint leaves. One of those properties is calming people, and another is cooling things. Although, you took it to an extreme." I explained looking at the shattered glass.

"Really? Is there any other effects of mint leaves I should know about?" Mint asked excitedly.

"Only one, it can freshen your breath." I said jokingly.

"Oh well, at least I have two cool talents now." Mint said optimistically.

"Actually, it is only one." Ice Breath corrected.

"I wanna feel special, so I say I have two talents." Mint retorted.

"Whatever, but can you make the room cold again? I love it when it's cold." Ice Breath said.

"Ok." Mint said happily as she used her newly discovered talent.

I left the room after cleaning up the mess from the shattered glass. "Well, I know what I'm doing tomorrow." I said to myself as I went into town to find a certain mare.

**Author's Notes**

**My chapters will probably come in at random times now that i am working full time and in college, but i will update as often as i can.**

**Yuri belongs to American-agent12.  
Angel Lily belongs to Rainbow Lily.  
Cammo belongs to ponylover8.  
Ice Breath Belongs to Minimario25.  
Ice Blitz belongs to door****pony94.**

**What mare is Shadow looking for?  
I bet some of you already know.  
Until next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

Shadow's POV

"Where in Equestria is that mare?" I asked myself.

"What mare?" I had a cherry voice from behind me.

I turned around and saw Pinkie Pie, "You of course. I need you to get a surprise party ready for Mint tomorrow."

"What for? Is it her birthday, or did she graduate from school? Oh, is she getting married, or is it…" Pinkie Pie rambled until I shoved my hoof in her mouth.

"No, it's to celebrate her learning the second half of her special talent." I informed her.

She gasped and disappeared in a flash of pink. I chuckled to myself and left for home, trusting that Pinkie Pie could handle everything else.

The Next Day (Ponyville School)

I was waiting outside Mint's school when her class let out.

"How was school today?" I asked.

"Boring as usual." Mint replied. "Can Icy stay tonight again?"

"I don't know, last time he stayed over, you tried to freeze everything." I teased.

"That had nothing to do with it." Mint protested.

"I know, I was just messing with you. Yes, he can stay over, but you two can't stay in your room all night."

"Ok." Mint replied happily before walking back inside and telling Ice Breath

We walked back to my house in relative silence. Mint and Ice Breath talked with each other and I ignored most of it. When we got to the front door, I made up the excuse of having to go talk with Twilight. I teleported into my house and told them to get ready. Mint opened up the door and stepped inside with Ice Breath. Mint felt around in the dark for a minute trying to find the light switch. When she finally turned it on, we all jumped out and yelled, "Surprise!"

I laughed at the expressions on Mint's and Ice Breath's faces. After recovering from the shock, Mint glared at me and protested, "Daddy, I thought you said you were going to talk to Twilight."

"Twilight is right there." I said pointing a hoof towards the punch bowl.

"Let's get this party started." Pinkie Pie yelled before signaling Vinyl Scratch, the resident DJ, to start the music.

Mint dragged Ice Breath over to the dance floor and forced him to dance with her. Meanwhile, I joined Twilight and Spike by the snack table.

"Ahh man, Pinkie Pie never remembers to bring me some gemstones to snack on." Spike complained.

"Why don't you go ask Ebony and Ivory for some of theirs. I bet they wouldn't mind sharing a few, or talking to another dragon." I told him.

"Oh, thank you." Spike said before running off to find the other two dragons.

"That was nice of you." Twilight told me.

I shrugged and replied, "I was, but if he gets any gems depends on Ebony and Ivory."

"They don't seem like the greedy type, so I believe Spike will get a few." Twilight replied.

"You're right." I said before levitating over two glasses of punch. "You want some punch?"

"Yes, thank you." Twilight said before giving me a curious stare. "Why are you being so generous today?"

My blood ran cold at her question and I attempted to answer. "I, uhm, It's because I, uh…"

Just then, there was a loud knocking at my door. I felt a wave of relief as I told Twilight I needed to go see who it was. I walked over to the door and opened it to see Silver Lining.

"Hello Silver, can I help you with something?" I asked.

"Yes, three new ponies have appeared and there is a slight problem with one of them." Silver said nervously.

I turned an motioned to Twilight to follow me before I walked out with Silver. Twilight appeared right next to me, startling Silver.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"One of the new arrivals has amnesia and something else that you should see for yourself." Silver explained.

Without warning, I teleported us into one of my school's classrooms. Silver let out a startled yelp from the sudden change of scenery. I looked around and noticed the three new arrivals. The first one was a cream colored unicorn with a black mane with yellow highlights and lime green eyes. On his forehead and legs are black tribal tattoos. His flank was emblazoned with a gold-outlined red shield cutie mark. He was currently wearing a pair welders goggles on his head and a black bandana around his neck. The next pony was a white pegasus pony with a long orange mane with light blue tips and red eyes. Finally, the last pony was a white unicorn with a deep red mane and eyes.

"Ok, let's get started." I announced to get their attention. "Line up in front of me and tell me your names."

The pegasus was first in line followed by the male unicorn.

"I'm Verine Makarov." She said cheerily.

I brought my record book out and wrote her name down before proceeding to use the name spell.

"Your new name will be Verine Firestorm." I said smiling. "No doubt about it now. You're Yuri's sister aren't you?"

"Yuri's here? Where is he?" Verine asked excitedly.

"All in due time Verine." I said writing her new name down.

I stepped behind her to the male unicorn.

"I'm Michael Dascher." He said confidently.

"Can you please lower your head. I need to be able to touch your forehead to use the name spell." I requested to which he did as he was told. I cast the name spell and announced to him, "Your new name will be Seeker."

"I guess that is cool enough for me." Seeker said dismissively as I wrote down his information.

"Ok, now it's your turn." I said while walking up to the last unicorn.

She backed away from me shyly.

"It's ok, nopony is going to hurt you." I said kindly. " You must be the one who has amnesia, is that right?"

She nodded hesitantly.

"Do you remember anything about yourself?" I asked.

She shook her head this time.

"Well then hold still, and you will have a name." I said before lowering my horn to her forehead. When the spell was finished, I turned around and gave Twilight a confused look. "Twilight, she has two names."

"That's unusual, but it isn't rare in Equestria." Twilight explained. "It usually only happens if a pony is insane, is mentally retarded, or has more than one special talent."

"Well, she doesn't act insane and she obviously can understand us, so I think she will have two special talents." I replied.

"So what are her names? She can choose which one she would rather go by." Twilight asked.

"Rose Blood and Blood Smear." I said.

"I would rather be called Rose Blood." Rose said quietly.

"Ok." I said while writhing down her new name. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Where are you going?" Twilight asked.

"To Canterlot." I said before disappearing.

Narrator's POV

"Canterlot?" Verine asked.

"Canterlot is a city built on the side of a mountain where the Princesses live and rule from." Twilight informed.

"How is he going to get there and back that fast?" Seeker asked.

"A special form of teleportation that we can both use. Knowing him and what he is doing he will be back in three minutes." Twilight answered.

"What is he doing?" Verine asked.

"He is informing the Princesses and Yuri of your arrival here in Equestria." Twilight answered.

Verine gave Twilight a confused look and asked, "Why would my brother be with the Princesses?"

"He is one of Princess Celestia's personal guards." Twilight answered again.

"I'm so proud of him." Verine said.

"I doubt the royal guard are even that good. I bet I could beat them." Seeker said cockily.

"Take that back." Twilight and Verine said angrily.

"What are you getting so worked up about?" Seeker asked Twilight.

"My brother is captain of the royal guard." Twilight said.

"I'll believe they are good when one of them proves it to me." Seeker replied.

"Then let me prove it to you." A pony said from behind Seeker.

Seeker turned around and was about to say something, but stopped when he felt the tip of a blade against his throat.

Seeker regained his composure and said, "Ok, the royal guard is good, now can you please remove your sword."

Yuri reluctantly withdrew the sword and handed it back to Shadow.

"Sorry we're late. I had to make a few extra stops." Shadow said as he stepped into view.

"Extra stops?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Yes, but I can't tell you because it would ruin the surprise." Shadow said teasingly.

"You and your secrets really gets on my nerves." Twilight said.

"Which one is she?" Yuri whispered to Shadow to which he pointing at Verine.

Yuri walked up to Verine and said, "It's good to see you again Verine."

Verine hugged Yuri and said, "I've missed you to Yuri."

"To me, it looks like we have another Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Sky Sear." Shadow said to Twilight.

"Looks like it, only Verine isn't as … clingy." Twilight replied.

"Shadow, would it be alright if Verine went back to Canterlot with me?" Yuri asked.

"On two conditions." Shadow said.

"Name them." Yuri replied.

"She has to agree to go with you, and you will be in charge of teaching her." Shadow said.

"She already wants to go to Canterlot, and teaching her is not a problem." Yuri said.

"Ok then, would you rather stay here for a little while and enjoy a party, or do you want to go to Canterlot now?" Shadow asked.

Yuri and Verine discussed it for a moment and Yuri announced, "We want to go back to Canterlot, seeing as how I'm still on duty. Thanks for the offer though."

"Ok, follow me and we will leave immediately. Verine, I hope you don't get motion sickness easily." Shadow said as he walked towards the exit.

"Why?" Verine asked as both her and Yuri followed closely behind. Instead of an answer, though, Shadow teleported them to Canterlot.

"As for you," Twilight said walking up to Seeker, "being cocky and self-confident is one thing, but insulting ponies is unacceptable her. As long as you don't insult others, you and I will get along swimmingly, but don't let me ever catch you being mean to others."

"Or what?" Seeker asked unafraid.

Twilight lowered her voice to a low whisper and said, "You will live to regret ever crossing me."

Twilight went back to the party after that encounter and saw that Shadow was waiting outside for her.

"You lectured him." Shadow said.

"Yes." Twilight replied.

"Good, he needed it." Shadow said before walking up to the door. "Shall we?"

Twilight smiled and said, "Yes we shall."

They then walked back into the party together.

**Author's Notes**

**Yuri and Verine belong to American-agent12.  
Seeker belongs to Seeker Pony engineer.  
Ice Breath belongs to Minimario25.**

**Yay, the plot thickens.  
We now have some slight romance and more family reunions.  
What are these 'extra stops' that Shadow mentioned.  
Yes Seeker Pony engineer, I know I made Seeker seem like a cocky jerk, but Rainbow Dash did act like that at one point and you wanted him to act like Rainbow Dash. Plus, I needed some more drama.  
And what is up with Rose Blood/ Blood Smear?  
Can anypony figure it out before it gets announced?  
Until next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**There will be an important message at the end of the chapter concerning OC's.**

Narrator's POV

Shadow and Twilight stepped back into the middle of Mint's party. Shadow asked Twilight to gather up everypony there that knew about the approaching danger and meet him upstairs where they could talk in private. Twilight nodded and dashed off to tell her friends. Shadow watched Mint and Ice Breath dancing for a few minutes before heading upstairs. Everypony was already there when he arrived.

"What's this about Shadow?" Rainbow Dash asked as soon as Shadow entered the room.

"The threat that the Princesses had been monitoring disappeared today." Shadow explained. "We speculate that whatever it is, it is purposely hiding its presence from us while it analyzes us."

"So, how do we go about finding that varmint?" Applejack asked.

"I guess we will have to wait for it to show itself." Twilight answered.

"In the meantime, we should continue to train, but not as hard. We have no way of knowing when it will attack, so try to stay rested and keep your guard up at all times." Shadow said. "That is all I wanted. You can go back to the party now."

Everypony left to go back to the party while Shadow stayed in the room to think about what the future held. The party lasted well into the night before ponies started to get tired and left. Afterwards, Pinkie Pie helped Shadow clean up the mess before she left as well.

The Next Day At the Secret Clearing

"So what am I learning today?" Twilight asked Ebony and Ivory.

"We are going to teach you how to sense another's presence without actually seeing them." They answered in unison.

"Good, maybe I will be able to beat Shadow after this. Hopefully he doesn't show up anytime soon." Twilight said.

"Let's begin." They said. "You need to learn to rely on senses other than sight. That is why you will be doing this blindfolded and without magic."

Ivory tied a blindfold over Twilight's eyes.

"I'm ready." Twilight said.

Ebony and Ivory then took turns attacking Twilight, making slight noises right before they attacked. It took Twilight about half an hour before she started picking up on this. After she was able to successful block consecutive attacks, Ebony and Ivory picked up the pace and tried to stay as quite as possible. They continued this pattern until Twilight has become able to block almost any attack that was thrown at her no matter has fast, silent or random they were.

"Ok, the lesson is over." Ebony and Ivory said.

"I wonder why Shadow isn't here yet. He said he would be back before my lesson was over." Twilight pondered after taking off her blindfold.

Twilight whirled around and blocked Shadow's attempt to catch her off guard.

"Very good. Although you still have to work on it. I have been here for quite some time." Shadow said backing off.

"Really? How long have you been here? And what is that on your back?" Twilight asked noticing a package sticking out of Shadow's saddle.

"I've actually been here for half an hour. As for this, it is for you." Shadow said as he levitated it over to her.

Twilight opened it immediately and gasped at what was inside. Inside was a purple katana. Twilight slowly lifted it out of the packaging. She unsheathed it and was even more shocked at the blade itself. The blade was a deep purple hue that sparkled down its entire length.

"I, I don't know what to say." Twilight stammered.

"Say thank you." Shadow replied.

Twilight ran over to him and gave a big hug and a peck on the cheek before she realized what she was doing.

"Oh, sorry." Twilight said when she saw the shock on Shadow's face. "How did you afford this? And what exact is it made of?"

"The Canterlot blacksmith owed me a favor, and as long as I gave him the necessary materials, he would make the sword for free. As for the materials, it is made of a titanium-steel allow infused with dragon scales and diamonds. Celestia gave me the metal, spike gave me some of his scales, and rarity provided the diamonds." Shadow explained. "That sword is just and strong as mine and probably even sharper."

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you." Twilight said excitedly. "I'll have to thank everypony else when I next see them."

"Do you want to test it out?" Shadow asked.

"Yes, I do." Twilight said getting into a fighting stance.

"I meant try it out on a tree." Shadow corrected.

"Oh." Twilight said before turned and slashing at a nearby tree.

The blade sliced through the tree effortlessly.

"Wow." Twilight exclaimed impressed. "That is very sharp."

"Now, we can fight." Shadow said pulling out both of his katanas. "Remember to use the blunt side."

Twilight flipped the blade around and attacked immediately. Shadow blocked it with ease. Twilight disappeared as soon as the blades connected just like Shadow taught her to do. With both of his katanas, Twilight could not find a single opening in Shadow's guard. But her attacks were so fast that Shadow didn't have time to counterattack without providing Twilight with an opening. Twilight refused to lose to him again. She sped up her attacks and incorporated magical blasts into her assault trying to break Shadow defense. It worked, a little too well.

Shadow was staggered back by an explosion from one of Twilight's blasts. He was wide open and Twilight saw her chance. She stabbed at his heart with all her might trying to end in in one blow. Partway into the blow, Twilight realized that this blow could easily kill Shadow. She knew she couldn't change the swords trajectory, so she closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable. She felt the sword hit something solid and slide off of it. The thought sickened her and she let go of the sword. She fell to the ground and started to cry.

"Why are you crying?" Shadow asked her.

She looked up at Shadow and saw that there wasn't a single mark on him. Confused, she asked, "How are you even alive? That should have killed you."

"I fused with Ebony and Irony right before the sword hit. It just glanced off of my scales." Shadow explained calmly. "You still haven't answered my question."

"What question?" Twilight asked with tears still in her eyes.

"Why are you crying?" Shadow repeated.

"I thought I had killed you." Twilight said on the verge of tears again.

"It's alright Twilight." Shadow said hugging her.

"No, it's not." She replied. "I lost control of myself and all I could think about was winning. I was willing to do whatever it took to win."

"That is why it's ok." Shadow said which confused Twilight. "It is the willingness to do whatever it takes to win that will allow you to make the tough decisions in a fight. If you aren't willing, your indecision will lead to your downfall."

"I still don't think my actions were justified." Twilight asked while getting up.

"Quit worrying about it. The past is the past and there is nothing you can do to change it." Shadow said.

"Your right." Twilight said after thinking it over for a minute. "I learned that the hard way after a future me tried to warn me about something. I spent an entire week trying to figure out what it was, only to realize that she was trying to tell me not to waste my time looking for disasters that weren't going to happen."

"When did this happen?" Shadow asked curiously.

"Not long before you arrived." Twilight answered.

"You'll have to tell me about it sometime." Shadow said. "But right now, we should be going home to rest."

One Month Later

It had been a very slow month. No new ponies arrived. The princesses still could not determine where this mysterious threat had vanished to. The only excitement came around when Pinkie Pie threw one of her parties.

Seeker settled down her in Ponyville so that he could start up an engineering workhouse. He spent his time creating new gizmos and gadgets or fixing up broken items. How he managed to get his cutie mark and what his special talent was, ponies could only speculate. His cutie mark was a red shield with gold trim, and according to Shadow, had absolutely nothing to do with engineering unless he was designing a new type of shield.

Then there was Verine. Everyone already knew about her cutie mark. It was a blue lightning bolt next to a comet. Shadow had no idea about the events that led up to it, but he knew everypony in Ponyville, Cloudsdale, and Canterlot saw her get her cutie mark. Shadow heard the explosion of the sonic rainboom, so he looked up to see if he could spot Rainbow Dash. Instead of seeing a rainbow ring like he expected, he saw a ring of blue fire spreading out from Canterlot. He stopped what he was doing to go see exactly what happened. When he arrived, the Princesses told him that Verine had performed her own version of the sonic rainboom, which ponies quickly renamed it as a sonic flareboom.

Rose Blood was the only one of the trio that hadn't received her cutie mark. She spent her days working as Nurse Redheart's assistant. She had dropped her shy demeanor around most ponies and had become one of the more sociable ponies in Ponyville. Although she would revert back to her shy self if anything surprised her.

As for Shadow and Twilight, they had been taking it easy since Ebony and Ivory told them that there was nothing left to teach them. Shadow would still go out for an hour or two to hone his senses. After going back home, he would store all of his energy into his necklace. Twilight spent her time helping her friends prepare. Although Rainbow Dash refused to let anyone see what exactly she was doing.

Twilight's POV

"Spike, I'm going over to Sugarcube Corner to help Pinkie Pie out with her experiments." I said to spike. "You're in charge while I'm out."

"Ok Twilight. Wait, what kind of experiments?" Spike asked curiously.

"I don't know. She probably wants me to try out a new recipe she invented." I said before disappearing.

Sugarcube Corner

I stepped into the sweets shop and looked around. Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen.

"Hello Twilight, how can I help you?" A blue mare with a light and dark pink mane reminiscent of swirled ice cream.

"Hello Mrs. Cake, do you know where Pinkie Pie is?" I asked politely.

"She's in the basement." Mrs. Cake answered.

"I didn't know you had a basement." I replied.

"Nether did we. It just seemed to appear overnight. We asked Pinkie about it and she told us she built it." Mrs. Cake answered.

"How… never mind, this is Pinkie Pie we're talking about." I said before walking over to a newly constructed door.

I opened it up and looked down the steps. They was no light down there.

"Pinkie Pie, are you down there?" I asked, but didn't receive a reply.

I cautiously stepped down a few steps before illuminating the surrounding area with a glow from my horn. After making it down the stairs, I turned and looked around. The were diagrams, chemical formulas, and other such chemistry equiptment scattered about the room. There was one corner of the room that my light didn't seem to reach. I stepped closer to see what was there but stopped as I heard something click. Out of the darkened corner a blob of goo came flying out at me. I instantly raised a shield only for it to dissipate as the two touched. I was so shocked by this that I didn't step out of the way of the goo. It collided me my chest with the force of one of Applejack's bucks. I lost consciousness before I hit the ground.

Shadow POV

I was relaxing in my room, about to store my magic in my necklace, when I heard it. A blood curdling scream rang out. I jumped off my bed and appeared in the center of Ponyville before the scream ended. Determining its direction, I did a quick series of teleports trying to find whoever had screamed. I found her soon enough. She was passed out in front of Ponyville hospital. I teleported to her side and checked for a pulse, thanking Fluttershy that she had showed me how on a pony. She had a pulse, a weak one, but a pulse none the less. Standing up from beside her, I looked towards the hospital. Something was definitely off. There should have been doctors and nurse running out to see what the commotion was. Intsead there was silence. I cautiously stepped inside the hospital while raising my senses. I looked around and saw nopony. I walked up to the reception desk and peeked behind it. There was a pony behind it, only this one was definitely not alive. Their coat and mane had been drained of all color and their eyes, which were wide open, had turned white. I turned and walked down a random hall. Everywhere I looked, the bodies of ponies laid. There was no color, no sound, and most confusing of all, no blood.

As I was making my way down yet another hallway, I heard a sound. A sound that most would miss, but my trained ears picked up on. The sound had come from a little ways down the hall I was in. I proceeded cautiously and I picked up on something else. The unmistakable metallic scent of blood. A little farther down the hallway I found a drop of blood, and then another, and another. I followed the blood trail to an air vent at the bottom of the wall. I stepped to the other side of the hall and studied the vent. I could tell there was something moving inside out of view. I used my telekinesis to rip the vent cover off the wall and pull whatever it was out.

I was horrified at what laid before me. It was Rose Blood, only she wasn't doing so well. She was bleeding profusely from numerous gashes all over her body. Her once snow white coat matched the deep red hue of her mane and tail. Her breathing was shallow and labored. She was also fading from consciousness fast. I gently levitated her up and teleported us to the only pony I knew who could help. Fluttershy.

**Author's Notes**

******As for OC requests now, any that are sent in will be at the mercy of the mysterious killer.**

**Sorry everypony for the long wait, but between work, school, and some slight perfectionism, i had a hard time getting this chapter finished. However, my boss gave me some time off due to there not being very much work to do so i have plenty of time to work on chapter four. You can expect it to be in by Tu****esday.**

**Yuri and Verine belong to American-agent12.  
Seeker belong to Seeker pony engineer.  
Ice Breath belongs to Minimario25.**

**Yay, we have some new developments and i am eager to see your thought on what will happen next.  
****How will Rainbow Dash react to somepony else being able to do a sonic rainboom?  
What is going to happen to Twilight?  
****What happened to Rose Blood?  
Why do i continue to ask questions I already know the answer to?  
Until next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

Fluttershy's House (Shadow's POV)

"Fluttershy, we need your help." I practically shouted as soon as we appeared.

Fluttershy flew into the room, being followed by Nurse Redheart, and the both gasped.

"Oh dear, what happened to her?" Fluttershy asked as she pulled out her medical supplies.

"I don't know. I found her like this in the hospital's air vent." I replied.

"If you were at the hospital, why didn't you just get a doctor there to help?" Nurse Redheart asked.

I looked down and tried to think of an easy way to break it to them. When I couldn't think of one, I told them, "Because, she is the only one I found alive."

Fluttershy stopped what she was doing and they both stared at me with sadness in their eyes. Fluttershy remembered that somepony's life was in danger so she went back to work cleaning and stitching closed the wounds.

"She's lucky. The wounds aren't very deep, and none of them appear to have hit any major blood vessels. If you hadn't found her when you did, she most likely would have bled out in half an hour." Nurse Redheart said to me as she looked over Rose's wounds. Another gasp from Fluttershy got their attention.

"What's wrong?" Nurse Redheart asked.

"Nothing's wrong, in fact, it is the complete opposite." Fluttershy said. "She has her cutie mark."

"What?" Nurse Redheart and I exclaimed at the same time.

"Is her special talent survival?" I asked thinking it was the only cutie mark you could get by being almost killed.

"No, her cutie mark is a blood drop, see." Fluttershy said before stepping out of the way.

"I wonder what it could be." I pondered as Fluttershy went back to work.

Pinkie Pie's Basement (Twilight POV)

I slowly opened my eyes to look at my surroundings. I started to freak out when I realized that it wasn't my room, but then the memories came back. I was here to help Pinkie Pie. I looked around again to take in as much information as I could get. I was stuck to the wall at the bottom of the stairs by that goo that was shot at me. The room was pitch black since there were no lights on. I tried to light up the room with my horn only to get a severe burning sensation in it. I cried out in pain.

"Looks like you're finally awake." Said an all too familiar cheerful voice.

"Pinkie Pie?" I asked.

"Yeppers peppers." Pinkie Pie said as she turned on the lights.

In the corner off the room I was trying to search before she attacked me, sat Pinkie Pie and her party cannon. Only, the party cannon had a weird blue goo dripping from the barrel.

"Why did you attack me?" I asked angrily.

"I wanted to see if my experiment would work, and knowing how much you like your magic, you would never say yes if you knew that I was making something that could stop you from using your magic. So, I invited you over here and used it on you before you knew what was happening. So now here we are talking to each other, and after I ask you a few questions, I will throw you a super duper 'I'm really sorry a hurt you and stopped you from using your magic' party. Unless of course it didn't stop your magic, in which case I would throw you an 'I'm really sorry I hurt you party'. So can you use your magic?" Pinkie Pie rambled off without taking a single breath.

"No, I can't. Now can you let me down?" I asked politely.

"Not yet. What happens if you try to use your magic? Do you feel pain? Or is it like you have no magic at all?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"My horn feels like it's burning when I try. Now get me off this wall." I demanded.

"One more question. Are you busy later?" She asked.

"No, why?" I answered.

"So I can throw your party silly." Pinkie Pie said as she pulled out a vial of red liquid and walked over to me.

She poured it onto the goo which caused the goo to dissolve instantly. I fell off the wall and landed on my side in pain. Pinkie Pie helped me up before she hopped back over to her notes and wrote down a few things.

"Why did you even make this stuff?" I asked.

"My Pinkie sense told me to." She answered.

I facehoofed and said to herself, "Why do I even bother."

I then left the pink mare and returned home only to find Shadow sitting in the library section waiting for me. He looked up as I entered and I could tell that he had so bad news.

Narrator's POV

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"Rose Blood has been severely wounded, by whom, I do not know. Everypony else who was at the hospital at that time is dead. She was the only one to survive." Shadow said emotionlessly, much to the horror of Twilight.

After a few minutes, Twilight recovered enough to ask, "How where they killed?"

"That's the weird part. They died from loss of blood, but there was no blood around any of them except Rose. She was covered in her own blood from multiple deep gashes covering her body. I found her holed up in an air vent nearly dead. Fluttershy and Nurse Redheart are treating her right now at Fluttershy's house. They assured me that she will make a complete recovery, but she won't regain consciousness for a while." Shadow said, his voice still lacking emotion.

"At least Rose is ok." Twilight said before she started pacing. "They were completely drained of blood, yet there was no blood around them. That means that somepony or something sucked the blood out of them. Let me consult my books on anything that could do that. Is there anything else you forgot to mention?"

"Not that I can… Oh, wait. Rose managed to get her cutie mark as well. It's a blood drop." Shadow replied.

"A blood drop? Do you think she could have killed them all?" Twilight asked.

"No, she acts just like Fluttershy. I couldn't even imagine her doing something like that. Plus, if she did kill them, how did she get as badly injured as she did. I doubt she would do that to herself." Shadow defended.

"Good point. Spike!" Twilight yelled.

Spike came running down the stairs and stood at attention next to Twilight.

"I need the books titled _All Creatures Mystical and Magical_ and _Known Creatures of Equestria_." Twilight ordered.

Spike saluted and ran to the bookshelves. He came back a minute later with both requested books.

"Here you go Twilight." Spike said.

"Thank you. Now Shadow, do you mind helping me search these books for anything it could be."

"I don't have anything else planned." Shadow answered.

Half an Hour Later

"Ahh, this book has nothing." Twilight vented. "What about yours Shadow?"

"The only thing that it could be in this book is a vampire." Shadow started.

"Vampire!" Spike shouted before bolting for the bedroom.

"A vampire fits almost everything. They suck out their victims' blood. They have claws that could have caused Rose's wounds, and they can move around without being seen." Shadow explained. "But, they can't move around in daylight, and they can't cross entranceways without being invited in."

"They could have easily been invited in if they faked an injury." Twilight said. "What do they look like and how do we fight them?"

"They are humanoid in shape with very pale skin. Instead of fingers on their hands, there are razor sharp claws. They usually dress in black and are hunched over. As for fighting them, they can't really be harmed as they regenerate from any damage they take. The only way to kill them is to pierce their heart with a wooden stake, splash them with holy water, or somehow get them to step out into sunlight." Shadow answered. "Additionally, they do not like to be around garlic. It is extremely harmful to them, but it can't outright kill them."

"We need to inform the Princesses of this development." Twilight said. "Spike, prepare to take a note."

"Twilight, you know we can just teleport there, right?" Shadow said as Spike entered the room, paper and quill in hand.

"That's right, never mind Spike. We will be paying the Princesses a visit. You can go back to whatever you were doing."

"Ok, Twilight." Spike said before leaving the room.

Shadow and Twilight turned and started walking towards the door, only to disappear.

Canterlot (Outside the Throne Room)

Shadow and Twilight appear in front of the throne room doors, much to the annoyance of the two guards on duty. They let us through without a word. As soon as we entered, Twilight ran up and hugged Shining Armor, who happened to be in the middle of a conversation with Celestia.

"Hello Twily, How have you been?" Shining Armor asked.

"Great, well at least until today. That's why I'm here." Twilight said before turning to Celestia. "Princess, we have an urgent matter to inform you about."

"There has been a mass murder at Ponyville hospital. All but one of the ponies in the hospital died of blood loss. Rose Blood is currently being treated by Fluttershy and Nurse Redheart. She suffered numerous lacerations all along her body. I have been informed that she will make a complete recovery, but she won't be waking up anytime soon." Shadow stated.

Celestia kept a straight face the entire time Shadow was talking before saying, "It is as I feared. Luna and I both felt the evil presence appear for a few minutes, but we couldn't discover its location before it disappeared again."

"Princess Celestia, we believe that the creature responsible for these deaths is a vampire. According to Shadow, who was the first one there, all of the deceased were completely drained of their blood. There was no blood around any of the bodies. A vampire is the only creature we found that could have done such a thing." Twilight summarized.

At this moment, Luna walked into the room followed by Yuri. Shadow greeted Luna and Yuri.

"It's a pleasure to see you again Shadow." Luna said.

Yuri stood there like a statue without even acknowledging Shadow.

"Yuri is really taking his job seriously isn't he?" Shadow said to which Luna nodded. "I wouldn't have thought he'd be this serious after ditching work to go see his sister not too long ago, I guess he is just trying to make up for it."

"Shadow, you could get me fired for saying things like that." Yuri exclaimed.

Luna started laugh at Yuri's discomfort before saying, "You thought that we didn't know about this? Shadow asked us if he could take you to go see your sister and we let him."

The look on Yuri's face was priceless.

"You mean to tell me that I worried about you finding out about this all this time, only to find out you knew." Yuri said. "I'll get you back for this Shadow."

The sound of doors opening drew everypony's attention to the front of the throne room. Verine walked into the room and straight up to Shadow.

She struck him across the face with a hoof before saying, "I still owed you from that teleport."

Shadow chuckled and said, "I wouldn't expect anything less."

Verine walked up the Yuri and said, "I brought you a sandwich."

"Thank you." Yuri said smiling.

At this moment, both Celestia and Luna tensed up.

"It's back." They said in unison.

"What? Where?" Twilight asked.

"Ponyville." Shadow said.

Everypony looked at him in confusion.

"How do you know?" Celestia asked.

"Ebony and Ivory just told me." Shadow said. "We need to go, now. I can teleport us all there."

Meanwhile (In Ponyville)

"Please don't kill me." Pleaded a cowering mare.

Her pleads were met with a spine-chilling maniacal laughter.

**Author's Notes**

**OC requests are now officially closed.**

**Yuri and Verine belong to American-agent12.**

**It has been brought to my attention that some of you may feel disappointed in me because your OC's haven't been shown much, but that will be changing. The final battle is drawing closer and most will be involved in some way. I am curious as to who or what you believe the killer is. Those of you who pay attention in my stories and can remember the small details will be able to easily figure this out. Until next time, whenever that is.**


	5. Chapter 5

Shadow's POV

I teleported all of us to Ponyville where the killer was attacking. Us being me, Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Shining Armor, Yuri, and Verine.

Ponyville

I yelled in horror and jumped back at what I saw. Standing in front of me, just a hairs width away, was Pinkie Pie.

"Hello Shadow. My pinkie sense told me to go gather up all your friends and meet you here, so here we are." Pinkie Pie said before backing away.

Standing behind Pinkie Pie was Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Nurse Redheart, Spike, Angel Lily, Ice Blitz, and Seeker. Seeker had a scowl on his face and was glaring at Yuri, but Yuri didn't seem to notice, or even care.

"The only pony we are missing is Cammo. I wonder where he could be." I said with sarcasm in his voice.

I them proceeded to stand up on his hind legs and lean his back against an invisible object. Knowing he had been found out, Cammo dropped his invisibility spell and stepped away from me. I fell onto my back and looked up at him.

"Well hello Cammo. I didn't see you standing there." I said with a wide grin.

I stood up and magically dusted myself off as he said, "How did you know I was there?"

"You where invisible, not silent. I heard you walking next to me before we teleported." I said getting serious once more.

"Where do we even start looking for the killer?" Twilight asked.

"Killer? What killer?" Spike asked nervously.

"I don't have time for this." I said while sending a telepathic message to Ebony and Ivory.

They two dragons appeared in front of me a moment later.

"What's new?" I asked.

"We found two more dead ponies, a mother and her foal, both drained of blood like all the others. We have also figured out that the one doing all the killing is Rose Blood." They said together.

"What?" Most of us shouted.

"She is acting weird though. When we confronted her, she merely told us that she was Blood Smear, not Rose Blood, right before she tried to kill us." They continued.

Everypony turned to me when I facehoofed myself. "How did I miss that? Everything pointed to it and I just ignored it. The double name, the amnesia, the cutie mark, everything." I muttered to myself.

"What in tarnation are ya talking about?" Applejack asked.

"It's a classic case of multiple personality disorder." I answered, only to be greeted with several looks of confusion, mainly from Rainbow Dash.

"Think of Luna and Nightmare Moon." I explained. "Same pony, but with two completely different sides."

"Oh, I knew that." Rainbow Dash said after a moment.

"If that's the case, why don't we use the Elements of Harmony on her like we did on Nightmare Moon?" Rarity asked.

"Cause they're at the castle, and we're here." Applejack countered.

"Oh, right." Rarity said.

"Twilight, why don't you go with Celestia and get the Elements while we look for Rose." I asked only to find that they were both already gone. "Ok, then I guess it's time took look around. Ebony, Ivory, go watch over my daughter and her friends. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, go check around your boutique. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, go check down by the farm. Ice Blitz, Cammo, take the east side of town. I'll take the west side of town. Yuri, Verine, your our eyes in the sky. The rest of you stay here and wait for Twilight and protector our healers. If anyone of you see Rose Blood, come straight back here and inform us. We don't know exactly what she is capable of, so don't chance it. Also, warn any ponies you see to get inside and lock their doors."

They nodded and went off towards their respective areas.

"Are you certain that you want to go alone?" Luna asked.

"Yes." I said before trying to walk away, only to be stopped by Angel Lily and Seeker.

"If anything happens to you, drink this healing brew." Angel Lily said before putting a potion in my saddlebag.

"You need to stop hanging around Zecora so much. You're starting to sound like her and it is creeping me out." I suggested.

Seeker glared at me before saying, "Why do I have to be stuck with a royal guard member?"

"Because you owe him a personal apology for insulting the royal guard." I replied.

"You're not my boss and you can't make me." He said defiantly.

"That's Twilight's brother and captain of the royal guard. If you don't apologize, I'm sure Twilight can make you." I said threateningly before leaving.

Narrator's POV

Seeker thought about what Shadow had just said to him. The royal guard didn't scare him. The captain of the royal guard couldn't even scare him, but Twilight was another story. She scared him more than anything else, so he decided to go apologize and try to stay on her good side. Seeker swallowed his pride and walked up to Shining Armor.

"Did you need something?" Shining armor asked.

"I'm here to tell you that I'm sorry for insulting the royal guard." Seeker said.

"Oh, you must be Seeker. Shadow said I should expect an apology from you. He told you that Twilight would force you to didn't he." Shining Armor asked.

Seeker nodded and Shining Armor laughed. Seeker looked at him with a confused expression.

"You know you didn't have to apologize. We all have our own opinions and we can't be punished for that. Truth is Shadow just wanted you to learn an important lesson in humility." Shining Armor explained.

"Why?" Seeker asked.

"So you don't become an arrogant jerk and learn to be more respectful." Shining Armor explained.

Other Side of Base Camp

"What all potions and herbs do you have with you?" Nurse Redheart asked.

"I have nine more healing concoctions, five all-purpose antidotes, and three energy potions." Angel Lily answered.

"That's good. Fluttershy, did you remember to grab your medical kit when Pinkie Pie came and got us." Nurse Redheart asked.

"Yes, I never go anywhere without it now." Fluttershy answered.

"Smart mare. I'm just glad we left Rose Blood before she woke up. I know she was hurt and all, but if she truly is the killer, I don't want to be anywhere near her." Nurse Redheart said.

"But it's not Rose Blood's fault. Blood Smear is making her do all of those horrible things." Fluttershy defended.

"I know, but I still don't like the thought of being around her right now. I just hope she can be cure like Princess Luna was." Nurse Redheart said, before she changed the topic. "Angel Lily, I'm still curious as to why you rhyme everything you say while you're around Shadow."

Angel Lily laughed and said, "I know he hates it when ponies rhyme around him, so I do it to get back at him for Nightmare Night."

"What did he do to you?" Fluttershy asked.

"What he does to every other pony in Ponyville. He kept randomly appearing behind me when I wasn't expecting it." Angel Lily explained.

"Shadow doesn't do that to me." Fluttershy said.

"Lucky." Nurse Redheart and Angel Lily said simultaneously.

East Side of Ponyville

"What exactly does Rose Blood look like?" Ice Blitz asked.

"White unicorn with blood red mane, tail, and eyes. Blood drop for a cutie mark." Cammo informed him.

They walked together in silence for a few minutes before Ice Blitz spoke again.

"How did you get your cutie mark?" He asked.

"I already had it when I woke up here." Cammo answered.

"Lucky, I had to figure out what I was good at. As it turns out, my specialty is ice magic." Ice Blitz said.

Cammo just nodded and they kept on walking. They walked in silence for a few more minutes before Ice Blitz tried talking again.

"You know you suck at having conversations right." Ice Blitz said.

"I am the captain of Princess Luna's stealth squad. We aren't very big on talking, especially when we're on a mission." Cammo replied.

Ice Blitz was about to say something again, but Cammo gave him a warning look, and he shut up.

Base Camp

"Twily." Shining Armor exclaimed as Twilight and Celestia reappeared with a few extra guards with them.

Twilight glanced around and noticed that the only ponies there were the Princesses, Shining Armor, Fluttershy, Nurse Redheart, Angel Lily, and Seeker.

"Where did everypony go?" Twilight asked.

"They left to go search for Rose Blood." Luna answered. "They will be back as soon as they find anything. Why did you bring them with you?" She asked pointing to the extra guards.

"They wouldn't let us leave unless we brought them with us." Celestia answered. "So, how long have they been gone?"

"About fifteen minutes." Shining Armor answered.

"What's wrong with Seeker? He looks a little…conflicted." Twilight asked while looking at the unicorn who was staring off into space.

"Shadow used the threat of your wrath to make him swallow his pride and apologize to me personally. I told him that afterword's and he is still trying to decide what he is going to do to Shadow." Shining Armor answered.

"Figures Shadow would pull something like that, but at least he knows humility now. I remember teaching Rainbow Dash that same lesson." Twilight said.

Twilight then walked over and sat down next to Seeker.

"Hello." Twilight said which startled Seeker out of his daze. "You know Shadow was only trying to help you be a better pony right."

"I know. It's not why he did what he did that gets me, it's how he went about it. It's just uncool to use fear to get somepony to do something." Seeker said.

"Yes, but fear is a great motivator." Twilight countered.

"You're right. I guess I can thank him for the lesson, but it still won't change how I feel about the royal guard." Seeker said.

'That wasn't the point of the lesson so I wouldn't expect it to." Twilight said before getting up.

Twilight turned around to find Shadow standing behind her.

"I'm glad you're taking this so well." Shadow said to Seeker.

Seeker immediately turned around and said, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Shadow said before turning back to Twilight. "She's not on the east side of town, and Pinkie Pie and Rarity didn't find her around the boutique. The others haven't finished searching."

"I would have thought Rainbow Dash would be done by now." Twilight said surprised.

"Rainbow Dash is working with Applejack and they had to go check by the farm." Shadow explained.

"Still, they should have been back." Twilight said obviously worried.

"Hello Cammo. Your skills are definitely improving, but you still can't get by me." Shadow said which confused Twilight until Cammo materialized next to her.

"What gave me away this time?" Cammo asked.

"Mostly the fact that Ice Blitz is reporting to Princess Luna and not you. Other than that, that's for me to know and you to find out." Shadow explained. "So, did you find her?"

"No." Cammo answered.

Shadow nodded and turned to Twilight.

"Let's go check on Rainbow Dash and Applejack if you're so worried." Shadow said.

With that, they teleported to Sweet Apple Acres. They separated and checked in opposite directions. Twilight checked the farm while Shadow checked the path into town. Twilight went inside the farmhouse and asked Big Mac is Applejack had been through already. She learned from him that they had already checked the farm and had left a few minutes earlier. Twilight teleported back to the entrance and ran down the path. About halfway back to Ponyville, Shadow appeared next to her and teleported them both back to the base camp where Applejack and Rainbow Dash where waiting. The latter of which had a gash down her right side. Twilight immediately ran to Rainbow Dash's side.

"What happened to you?" Twilight asked fearfully.

"Rose Blood." Rainbow Dash wheezed.

"As soon as we saw her, Dash here decided to ignore what Shadow said and attacked her anyway. Rainbow got a few feet away and then her side split open. Ay don't know how it happened just that it did. Shadow appeared and got us both out of there right after that." Applejack explained.

Twilight smacked Rainbow Dash and exclaimed, "You idiot. You don't just rush into things like that. You're lucky she didn't just kill you on the spot."

"Twilight, you shouldn't be hitting her." Fluttershy said flying over. "She needs her rest to heal."

"Would you mind if I healed?" Luna asked from behind Twilight.

"Would you?" Twilight asked sadly.

"Yes." Luna said before stepping up to Rainbow Dash.

She lowered her horn To Rainbow Dash's wound. Her horn glowed dark blue and soon after the wound started glowing as well. Five minutes later, the wound was fully closed and had left no visible sign that it had ever been. Applejack helped Rainbow Dash stand up, only for Twilight to smack her back down. Before Rainbow Dash could recover, Twilight teleported away.

"I know I deserve that and more." Rainbow Dash said as she was helped up again. "Thank you Princess Luna."

"It was my pleasure, Rainbow Dash." Luna said smiling, before she smacked Rainbow Dash as well.

"Why did you hit me?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You said that you deserved more and Twilight made it look fun." Luna said as she walked away with the smile still on her face.

Rainbow Dash looked to Shadow and asked, "You going to hit me too?"

"No, I just want to know what you saw just before you were injured." Shadow asked.

"I flew at her, saw a red blur, and felt and intense pain in my side." Rainbow Dash answered.

"Thanks." Shadow said before he left to ponder how they should proceed.

**Author's Notes**

**Yuri and Verine belong to American-agent12.  
Cammo belongs to ponylover8.  
Ice Blitz belongs to doorpony94.  
Angel Lily belongs to Rainbow Lily.  
Seeker belongs to Seeker Pony engineer.**

**I know it has been a little while since i have updated, but it was mostly planned. I wanted everypony to sit and think about who the killer was before I finally revealed it to be Rose Blood's alter ego Blood Smear. Other than that, I have been pretty stressed out lately and couldn't bring myself to write anything.  
**

**Now we know who the killer is, but why is she doing this?  
What will happen next?  
And how many more ponies are going to hit Rainbow Dash for her stupidity?**

**If you ask nicely enough, I might let your OC's slap Rainbow Dash as well.  
Until next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**What's This? Two chapters out in such short time. I must really be bored. Anyways, enjoy.**

Narrator's POV

Twilight watched as Shadow paced back and forth through the camp that they had set up. Twilight could tell that he was agitated by the way he was mumbling to himself. Finally having waited long enough she walked over to try to comfort him.

"What's wrong Shadow?" She asked.

"I can't think of a way to keep Rose in one place while you use the Elements of Harmony." Shadow said in defeat.

"Pinkie Pie can help you with that. She created a goo-like substance that prevents a unicorn from using their magic and holds them in place." Twilight replied which got a worried look from Shadow.

"How did she… oh never mind. Pinkie Pie, I need to talk to you." Shadow said before shouting the second half.

Pinkie Pie hopped over and asked, "What do you need? A cupcake, a slice of cake, a whole cake, a pie, a cherrychanga, or is it a …"

After silencing her where a hoof in her mouth, Shadow said, "Twilight told me about your magic stopping goo. Can you go get some for us to use against Rose?"

Shadow removed his hoof and Pinkie Pie said, "I don't need to go get it silly. I brought all of it with me."

Pinkie Pie set down her saddle bags and then literally dove into them. Shadow looked at the bags and wondered how she could even fit completely inside them without so much as a bulge on the outside of them before he looked over to Twilight for an explanation.

Twilight shrugged and said, "Don't ask me, I quit trying to figure her out years ago."

They looked back to the saddlebags as Pinkie Pie backed out of them holding onto five jars of blue goo.

"Here you go." Pinkie Pie said cheerfully before setting them next to Shadow.

"Ok, so now we have something we can use against her, but how do we get the goo on her without getting attacked?" Shadow asked Twilight.

"Oh, I can help with that as well." Pinkie Pie said before she dove back into her saddlebags.

She came out a moment later with what looked like a miniature cannon.

"Um, Pinkie Pie, where did you get something like that?" Twilight asked worriedly.

"Seeker made it for me." Pinkie Pie replied before handing it to Shadow as well.

"Is there anything else in there that we should know about?" Shadow asked while pointing at her bag.

"There is lots and lots and lots of food." Pinkie Pie answered.

"Ok, that's all I needed. You can go Pinkie Pie." Shadow said.

Pinkie Pie hopped away as Twilight turned to Shadow.

"Do you even know how to use that?" Twilight asked.

"Nope, but Seeker does." Shadow said as he levitated all of the things into his saddlebags, which barely fit.

Twilight and Shadow walked over to where Seeker was drawing designs on paper.

They stopped next to him and Shadow asked, "Seeker, can you show me how to use this?"

Seeker looked up and saw the miniature cannon and replied, "Maybe, but it looks like Pinkie modified my original designs for it. Give me a second to look it over and I'll let you know."

Shadow levitated it over to Seeker, whom inspected it.

"It looks like all she did was paint it pink and added a harness so that it could be attached to and fired from the saddle." Seeker said before pointing to a slot on the back of the cannon. "You load whatever you want to fire into here and then push this button."

"Thank you." Shadow said.

"May I ask what you are designing?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, this." Seeker said pointing at the paper lying on the ground. "It is a mechanical leg that can be operated by the brain. It's still a work in progress, but I should be able to finish it in a few days."

"Amazing." Twilight said as she looked over the designs. "What gave you the idea to do this?"

"Pinkie Pie told me to make it and she wouldn't leave until I Pinkie Pie promised her to." Seeker answered.

Shadow shook his head and said, "I swear Pinkie Pie can be more stubborn than Applejack sometimes."

"I know what you mean." Twilight agreed.

"Well, thank you for your time Seeker. Come on Twilight, we need to go over the plans one last time before we attack." Shadow said before walking away.

After a few minutes worth of talking, Shadow and Twilight agreed on the plan and then Twilight announced to the entire camp, "Everypony can I have your attention. We will hold a meeting to inform all of you of the plans in thirty minutes. Use this time to prepare yourself for battle."

Shadow walked off to have some time to himself to think. Twilight tried to follow him, but Shadow glared at her and she left.

Thirty Minutes Later

Twilight informed everypony of the plans which were quite simple. Pinkie Pie would use her cannon to trap Rose Blood in place and then the Elements of Harmony would be used on her.

"How do we even know that Pinkie's goo stuff even works?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight looked nervously at them before she admitted, "Pinkie Pie used that 'goo stuff' as you called it on me. The initial impact of it knocked me out and when I woke up, I couldn't move or use any of my magic."

"What if the Elements of Harmony don't work on Rose Blood?" Ice Blitz asked.

"Uh, um…" Twilight mumbled as she tried to think of something.

"Don't worry about that. If they don't work, I have a secondary plan that is guaranteed to work." Shadow said as he came to Twilight recue. "I would rather not resort to it, but I will if I must."

"What is this second plan of yours?" Celestia asked.

"I'm not going to say." Shadow said defiantly. "Just put your hope into the first plan, but know that there is a backup if things don't work out."

Celestia started to say something before Twilight interrupted, "I wouldn't try to argue with him. If he doesn't want you to know, then you won't be able to force him to tell you. I know from personal experience."

"Yuri, what's Rose's current position?" Shadow yelled up at the pegasus.

"Yuri flew down and said, "She's right outside the hospital and she has been there for a while."

"Thank you, now let's move out." Shadow said as he started to walk towards the hospital.

Outside Ponyville Hospital

Rose Blood was standing in front of the hospital reminiscing about the first ponies she had killed.

"What wonderful memories." She said to herself. "If only I could find some other ponies to play with."

"Hi." Said Pinkie Pie as she appeared nose to nose with Rose Blood.

"What?!" was all Rose Blood could say as she heard a click and was hit in the stomach with something.

Rose Blood flew back and hit the side of a building. She tried to get up, but she soon realized that she couldn't move from where she had landed. She then tried to cut her way out with magic, but an intense burning sensation coursed through her body.

"What trickery is this?" She screamed.

"It's not trickery, it my Super Duper Magic Stopping Goo." Pinkie Pie said as she put the cannon back into her saddlebag.

"Let me go and make sure you don't feel any pain when I kill you." Rose said politely.

"As if we'd let you go. We're here to help you get rid of the demon inside you Rose." Rainbow Dash said as she and the others stepped up next to Pinkie Pie.

"Alright girls, let's exercise this demon." Twilight said before their necklaces and Twilight's tiara started to glow.

"No, you can't do this to me. I won't let you." Rose screamed as struggled in vain against her goo prison.

Twilight and the others levitated into the air and a rainbow shot forth and engulfed Rose Blood. The goo around her disintegrated from around her as she screamed.

The girls landed and Twilight spoke up, "I'm glad that's over."

Everypony blood chilled as Rose Blood laughed manically from where she was laying.

"Is that the best you can do? It will take more than that to get rid of me." Rose said smugly before she started laughing again.

She stood up and slowly started walking towards Twilight. The closer she got, the wider her smile became showing off her razor sharp teeth.

"Too bad, you should have let me go when you had the chance. Now I'm going to enjoy watching you writhe in agony as you are slowly bled out." Rose said cheerily.

Before she could do anything, however, the girls vanished in a flash of blue light. Rose looked around before she found them a little ways down the road next to Luna. Rose scowled at this.

"You are going to pay for interfering with my fun." Rose screamed at Luna.

"Shadow, quick use your backup plan." Twilight said while trying to recover from using the Elements of Harmony.

"I need somepony to distract her while I prepare the spell." Shadow said as he closed his eyes in concentration.

"Guards, delay her, but don't hurt her." Celestia ordered and the four guards immediately charged at Rose.

As they got within a few feet of Rose, she said, "Pathetic."

She flicked her horn and a red blur slashed at them cutting off the first guard's head and a second guard's front leg. The other two guards backed away and started to circle her in opposite directions. When the guards were on opposite sides of her, they attacked. Two red blurs shot out at both of them and pierced their hearts, only this time Rose didn't pull them back. Twilight looked on in horror, not at the sight of three dead royal guard members, but at what killed them. It was Rose's own blood.

"Now I know why she was covered in cuts. She cut herself so that she could use her own blood to attack." Twilight said out loud from where she was sitting.

"She kills people with her blood? That's disgusting." Rarity exclaimed.

"Pinkie Pie, use your cannon again." Twilight ordered.

"Okie Dokie Lokie." Pinkie Pie replied before pulling out the cannon and firing it.

This time however, Rose blocked the shot by creating a dome of blood around her.

"Where'd all that blood come from?" Applejack asked. "Ah know there ain't that much in a pony's body."

Twilight looked closely at the blood shield before she noticed it.

"She's taking the blood from the dead guards." Twilight exclaimed.

"Oh great. The more she kills, the stronger she gets." Rainbow Dash complained.

The blood dome opened up and Rose stepped out and looked down at the royal guard member with the missing leg.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you, yet. You can just lay there and wait for death's embrace as the blood slowly drains from your body." Rose said before cracking up.

"Why are you doing this Rose Blood?" Celestia asked.

"I'm sorry, Rose Blood isn't here right now. If you want to leave a message for her, I'll make sure I carve it into your bodies after you die." Rose said with a large grin on her face.

"Then who are you?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Me? You can call me Blood Smear." Blood Smear answered. Blood Smear started walking towards them again, but stopped and said, "Actually, I have a better idea. I'll let you play with my friends."

Blood Smear closed her eyes and started to concentrate. Her horn glowed red and the three dead royal guard members stood up off the ground.

"Z, zombies!" Spike yelled before he bolted away.

"Not zombies, my dear dragon, they are my puppets." Blood Smear said as her smile got even wider.

A sound from the hospital drew everypony's attention. Their expression became even more hopeless as the ponies that had been killed in there walked out and joined the rest.

"We are so bucked." Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Rainbow Dash, language!" Rarity yelled at her.

"Shadow, how much longer?" Twilight asked.

Shadow was concentrating on the spell so much that he didn't even hear her. Twilight grew more fearful when she noticed that only the very tip of Shadow's horn was glowing.

"If it's taken him this long to charge up that pitiful amount of magic, then we're going to be here all night." Twilight said to nopony in particular. "I can take care of the puppets. You need to protect Shadow."

Twilight pulled out the sword that Shadow had given her with her mouth and charged.

Seeker stepped in front of Shadow and said, "Go, I can protect Shadow, you need to help Twilight."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack nodded to him before they turned to run to Twilight's aid. But they stopped when they noticed that every one of the dead puppets were nothing more than piles of body parts where they once stood. In the center of it all stood Twilight. She was covered from head to hoof in blood. Twilight sent out a small pulse of magic to get the blood off of her. Twilight jumped forwards and slashed at Blood Smear only for it to be blocked by blood. Twilight vanished as more blood tried to hit her. This repeated many more times, each time Twilight attacking from somewhere new.

"Um Rainbow?" Applejack asked. "Ah know yer the fastest pegasus in Equestria, but ah don't think even you could keep up with Twilight now."

"I agree." Rainbow Dash said in amazement.

Twilight slashed down once again, only this time the blood didn't block the attack, instead the blood swirled around Blood Smear and then exploded outward in all directions. Twilight was knocked all the way back to the others and her sword flew off in a different direction.

"Twilight!" Fluttershy yelled as she ran over to Twilight's side. "Are you ok?"

"I think so." Twilight said, but she screamed in pain as she tried to sit up. "I think that blast busted my ribs."

Blood Smear laughed as she walked forwards once more. "You almost had me there Twilight, but then again you were trying not to hurt me. As if you could anyway."

At this Ice Blitz jumped forwards and shot multiple ice shards at Blood Smear only for them to be blocked. Blood Smear started laughing at him but was cut short as Yuri crashed into her blood shield in a giant fireball. Blood was evaporated instantly by the intense heat. Yuri jumped away as Ice Blitz once again shot more ice shards through the opening in her shield. Most of the shards were deflected as the shield reformed itself, but one lucky shot slipped through and pierced Blood Smear's shoulder. She screamed in pain and anger before she lashed out at anypony close enough. Yuri took to the skies and Ice Breath retreated back to the others.

"Move aside unicorn." Blood Smear ordered Seeker. "You're all protecting him for a reason and it makes me want to kill him all the faster."

"Over my dead body." Seeker replied.

"That can be arranged." Blood Smear said as her blood shot towards him.

A purple shield met the blood in a head on collision. Seeker risked a glance back and he saw that Shining Armor was pouring all his strength into the shield. He looked back to see Blood Smear enraged and pounding on the shield with all the blood she had collected. Twilight looked over to Shadow but was dismayed when she saw that nothing had changed.

"Come on Shadow, hurry up." Twilight pleaded.

At this moment a crack sounded through the air. Everypony looked at where Blood Smear was attacking, afraid of what they would see. There were not any cracks in the shield, in fact, the shield wasn't even showing any signs of weakening. Twilight looked back to Celestia for an explanation.

"It's Shadow." Celestia said getting a confused look from Twilight. "Open your senses like you've been taught and all will be revealed."

Twilight looked back to Shadow and was surprised to see the ground below his hooves shattered as if a great weight had been dropped there. Twilight opened up her senses and was immediately shocked to see that the 'pitiful amount of magic' as she called it was actually a massive amount of magic compressed into a single point.

"The amount of control necessary for that is unreal." Twilight said out loud.

It then that Shadow's eyes snapped open and glowed white with all the magic he had been gathering.

Twilight looked from Shadow to Blood Smear and said, "It's been nice knowing you."

**Author's Notes**

**Yuri and Verine belong to American-agent12.  
Seeker belongs to Seeker Pony engineer.  
Ice Blitz belongs to doorpony94.**

**Now the excitement begins.  
We have a royal guard member bleeding to death from a severed leg. Twilight is incapacitated, and Shadow is about to unleash his spell.  
I am happy to report that there will be two more chapters after this before the story ends.  
Also, i have decided to continue the Shadow series, but most if not all of your OC's will not play any major parts. They may get mention if it seems appropriate at the time.  
Until next time.**


	7. Chapter 7

Narrator's POV

Blood Smear looked back forth between Twilight and Shadow. She was afraid, she was very afraid. Something about what Twilight said and the confidence with which she had said it unsettled Blood Smear. She looked back to Twilight and saw that she had a wide grin plastered on her face. She then looked over to Shadow, or she would have if he was still there. Shadow appeared a moment later with the tip of his horn touching Blood Smear's chest.

"Wha…?" was all she could get out before there was a flash of light the blinded everypony there.

A blood curdling scream filled the air before the glow died down. Shadow was panting heavily with Blood Smear nowhere in sight.

Shining Armor started to lower the barrier when Shadow shouted, "Don't lower it. Blood Smear is still alive."

"Then what did you do to her?" Celestia asked.

Before Shadow could answer, however, Blood Smear stepped out from the alley she had been thrown into and started laughing.

"Is that it? You'll have do better than that is you want to kill me." Blood Smear said with a smirk.

Shadow started stubbling towards the opposite side of the street, all the while saying, "That's just it, I wasn't trying to kill you, I was trying to save her."

With that, Shadow jumped into the weeds and out of sight.

"Ha, those weeds can't protect you. I will make suffer for your insolence." Blood Smear gloated before she cut down the weeds with a slash of blood.

The smile left her face when she realized that Shadow wasn't there. She screamed in rage before looking around for him.

"I think all of you can take it from here." Shadow said from behind his friends before collapsing right next to another Blood Smear. "Don't worry about me and Rose here. We just need to rest."

"I see, you separated Rose Blood and Blood Smear with the spell I created for you, didn't you." Luna asked.

Shadow nodded as he said, "Yeah, and it took every ounce of magic I had in me and in my necklace."

"Come on Luna. No holding back now." Celestia said as she stepped out of the barrier.

"Right Tia." Luna replied as she followed her sister.

"This is an honor. I get the pleasure of killing not one but two princesses." Blood Smear said with a greedy look in her eye. "Don't worry, I'll put your blood to a good use."

"Your arrogance will be your downfall." Luna announced before both her and Celestia took to the skies.

"Get back here." Blood Smear demanded.

Celestia answered her demand with a giant fireball. Blood Smear jumped out of its path knowing all to well what would happen if she blocked it with blood. As she was landing, lightning bolt struck the ground mere inches from her face. Blood Smear jumped back in surprise and glared up at Luna.

"Sorry Tia, I still have trouble controlling the blast." Luna said as she charged up for another blast.

Celestia launched another fireball before saying, "No need to apologize little sister. Lightning is difficult to control, even for me."

Luna nodded and fired another blast, only for it to change direction part way and strike a lamppost near Blood Smear. Blood Smear stuck her tongue out at Luna and taunted her.

"Princess Luna, use a lightning rod to control the blasts." Seeker yelled up.

Luna nodded and said to Celestia, "Can you keep her busy?"

"Yes, I can, but I don't know for how long." Celestia replied before firing another fireball.

Celestia continued to launch more fireballs at Blood Smear hoping she could land at least a single hit. Blood Smear was laughing the entire time she was dodging the Fireballs as if it was nothing more than a game to her.

"Your good Sun Princess, but I'm still better." Blood Smear gloated before proving her point by slicing one of Celestia's fireballs in half.

"How is that even possible?" Celestia exclaimed. "Your blood should have evaporated on contact with the fireball."

"You want to know a little secret Sun Princess." Blood Smear said while giggling. "Move anything fast enough and it can go through fire as if it wasn't even there."

Blood Smear then shot her blood at Celestia planning to pierce her heart, and it did pierce through. Only instead of Celestia's heart, it went through Seeker's side, puncturing one of his lungs. Blood Smear burst into laughter at the shock on Celestia's face even as everypony else gasped in horror as Seeker fell down from in front of Celestia. She continued laughing at Celestia until a blue goo splashed down on top of her.

"What?! Oh, not this stuff again." Blood Smear complained before glaring up at who had done such a thing.

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but laugh at Blood Smear's predicament as she glided lazily back down to the barrier with a bucket in one hoof.

"Ha ha ha, you should see the look on your face, it's priceless." Rainbow Dash said still laughing.

"Dash, get a hold of yerself. We still gotta beat her before we celebrate." Applejack said.

"Yeah, let's show that big dumb meanie that she can't mess with my friends, because if she messes with my friends I won't throw her any more parties." Pinkie Pie agreed.

"Seriously, are parties all you ever think about darling?" Rarity asked.

"Well duh, of course not. I also think about my friends, cupcakes, pies, cakes, donuts, chimmycherrychangas…" Pinkie started to say before her mouth was zipped shut by Twilight's magic.

"Thank you darling." Rarity said to Twilight before turning to Pinkie Pie. "I thought I made it clear to you that I never wanted to hear that word again."

"Girls, go get Seeker and bring him back inside the shield." Twilight said from where she was laying. They all nodded and ran off, except for Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, can you bring Shadow over here. I need to talk with him."

"Oh, of course Twilight." Fluttershy responded before flying away, only to come back a moment later holding Shadow in her arms. She set him down next to Twilight and asked, "Are you comfortable, or do I need to move you to a more comfortable position?"

"I'm fine Fluttershy, thank you." Shadow said before turning to Twilight and saying, "Thank you as well." Twilight gave him a confused look before he explained, "Angel Lily was trying to get me to drink one of her magic restoring potions and they are the most disgusting thing that I have ever tasted. Then there is her rhyming. It was driving me insane."

Twilight laughed at his complaining before saying, "I know how bad those potions taste, but they do work wonders, as for her rhyming, you know she does it just to annoy you, right?"

"What? Why would she do that?" Shadow asked.

"As payback for Nightmare Night." Twilight informed him.

"Oh, so what did you want to talk to me about?" Shadow asked.

"I just wanted to tell you that what you did was probably the most stupid thing that you could have done, but it was also the bravest." Twilight said.

"Tell me something I don't know." Shadow said.

"You sure know how to ruin a moment." Twilight said while giving him a flat look.

The girls arrived at this time and laid Seeker down a few feet away from Shadow and Twilight. Nurse Redheart and Angel Lily were at his side immediately treating his wounds. Fluttershy hovered nearby nervously, waiting for them to have her do something. Angel Lily motioned her over, whispered something in her ear, and then handed her a bottle containing a yellow concoction. Fluttershy flew over to Shadow and Twilight.

"Shadow, it's time you drank your medicine." Fluttershy said sweetly.

"No." Shadow said defiantly before looking up at her.

That was a big mistake as she was looking down at him with such intensity that Shadow couldn't help but want to run away from her, but he couldn't in his condition.

"You are going to take your medicine mister, or am I going to have to force you to?" Fluttershy said while narrowing her eyes.

"I, I'll take it." Shadow stammered out.

Shadow opened his mouth and Fluttershy dumped the bottle's contents into his mouth. Shadow swallowed it with a grimace before looking back at Fluttershy.

"That wasn't so hard now was it?" Fluttershy said with a smile before she flew away.

"What just happened?" Shadow asked.

"She just used 'The Stare' on you." Twilight answered.

"Remind me to never piss her off." Shadow said.

Twilight just laughed at him, until a sharp pain forced her to stop.

"Celestia, it's ready." Everypony hears Luna shout.

"Well girls, it's time you taught Blood Smear a lesson." Twilight said to the others. They all nod before rushing out to join the battle, except for Fluttershy.

Blood Smear looks over at Luna to see what she is talking about. Before she could, however, Yuri and Ice Blitz smash into her side and knock her and her cocoon of anti-magic goo towards Rarity. Rarity releases a blast of magic that knocks her into the air only the get knocked back down by Rainbow Dash. Blood Smear rockets towards the ground only to meet Applejack's back hooves as she is bucked back into the air. Celestia then fires one last fireball up at her, which Pnkie Pie roastes a marshmallow on as it soars past. The fireball smashes into Blood Smear and it sends her hurtling down into the center of a ring of metal rods. Blood Smear gets up weakly to her feet now that most of the goo is gone. She stands there bruised, bloodied, and burned as she looks around to regain her senses.

"Goodbye Blood Smear. You were a worthy opponent." Luna says as she unleashes a massive lightning bolt down onto the metal rods.

The lightning arcs back and forth along all the rods forming an electrified net, at the center of which is Blood Smear. She screams as the lightning net electrocutes her. When the electricity finally dissipates, Blood Smear falls over dead.

"It's over, it's finally over." Shadow said as he notices he can start to move again.

"Yeah, but it's still sad to think that all of those ponies died because we didn't realize what was wrong with Rose before her other half took over." Twilight said sadly.

"And you say I'm the one who ruins the mood." Shadow said to her. "But, I know something that will cheer you up."

"What?" Twilight asked curiously.

"This." Shadow said before leaning over and kissing her. After a moment, he leaned back and said, "I love you Twilight."

"Awww." Everypony within hearing distance said while Twilight is still recovering from the shock of the kiss.

"Hey Shining Armor, your sister is in love." Verine shouted which shatters Shining Armor's concentration and his shield along with it.

"What? With who?" Shining Armor yelled.

"Shadow." Verine shouts back.

Before he could say anything else, everypony hears a shout.

"Hello, royal guard member over here slowly dying from blood loss." The guard yelled.

Fluttershy and Nurse Redheart rush over to help the guard. Shadow stood up weakly and looked around at the destruction from the battle.

"This won't take much to fix up." Shadow says before he remembers something. "Hey, anypony know where Cammo is?"

Everypony scatters and starts searching for Cammo, well at least those that are able. After ten minutes of searching, he was found passed just down the road from the fight. After some gently prodding and then a smack to the head to wake him up, we asked him what happened.

"I was trying to attack Blood Smear from behind while Twilight was fighting her, but then her blood hit me and was sent flying." Cammo answered. "So did we win?"

"Yes, we won. We also managed to save Rose Blood as well." Celestia answered.

"That's good." Cammo said before relaxing and falling back to sleep.

Nurse Redheart examined him and then announced, "He has a few broken ribs and a concussion. He should be fine in a few weeks."

"Ok, let's all go home and get some much needed rest." Luna said.

**Author's Notes**

**Yuri and Verine belong to American-agent12.  
Angel Lily belongs to Rainbow Lily.  
Ice Blitz belongs to doorpony94.  
Cammo belongs to ponylover8.  
****Seeker belongs to Seeker Pony engineer.**

**Ok, so now the battle is over and some secrets are revealed. Everything is coming to a close so the only thing left to ask is, What will happen next.**

**Until next time, which is the final chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8

One Month Later (Author's POV)

"How are you feeling sister?" Cadence asked Twilight as they stood in Twilight's old Canterlot room.

"Nervous, very nervous." Twilight admitted before looking over at Cadence. "I still haven't got used to you calling me that."

"You will eventually." Cadence said as she stepped closer to Twilight. "But enough about that. You have to finish getting ready for your big day."

"I know. By the way, where is Shining Armor at? I thought he'd be here congratulating me." Twilight asked.

"No, he went over to help Shadow get ready. Plus, nopony else is supposed to see you before you walk down the aisle." Cadence replied.

"I'm glad you know all about this stuff. If it were up to me, I would have researched it." Twilight said.

"Yes, we all know what you would have done. Now it's time to get into your dress." Cadence said as she levitated the dress over to Twilight. "I must say, your friend Rarity is an amazing designer."

"Yes, she is." Twilight replied smiling as she looked the magenta wedding dress over.

Fifteen Minutes Later in the Throne Room

"You doing alright Shadow?" Spike said as he sat next to Shadow.

"Yeah, I'm just a little nervous." Shadow admitted.

"Don't worry. Twilight loves you and she will say yes." Spike said trying to comfort him.

"I'm not worried about Twilight. I'm afraid of how many ponies are going to be attending." Shadow corrected.

"Oh, well I can't help you there." Spike said.

"Just ignore them." Shining Armor said as he walked up to them both. "Focus on Twily and the Princesses and nothing else will matter."

"I'll try at least." Shadow said as he stood up. "I just want this to be over so I can get out of this suit. It's so constricting."

"I agree with you there." Spike said while tugging at the collar of his suit.

Shining Armor looked them over and admired Rarity's work. They were wearing matching tuxes. They were the traditional black with a white undershirt. The only differences were that Spike's suit had sapphire cufflinks and a red rose while Shadow's had ruby cufflinks and a black dahlia.

"Spike, quit pulling at the collar. Besides, the wedding shouldn't last too long." Shining Armor said.

"I hope your right about that." Shadow said.

One Hour Later

(You should all know what a wedding is like, and I just don't feel like going through all of it. So I'm just going to skip most of it.)

"Does anypony have any reason that these two should not be wed?" Celestia asked.

Nopony stood up or said anything, but before Celestia could continue they all heard the sound of somepony eating popcorn. They looked up to find the source of this annoying sound was none other than a being made up of many different animal parts. He hovered above them snacking on popcorn.

"Don't mind me, I'm just enjoying the show." He said as everypony looked at him.

"Discord. How did you escape?" Celestia demanded.

"Celestia, you're as boring as ever. If you must really know, I escaped when little miss bloodthirsty went on a rampage." Discord replied nonchalantly. "Now can we get back to the wedding? You were just getting to the good part."

"No. We sealed you away once, and we can do it again." Twilight said defiantly.

"Come Twilight, we must retrieve the Elements at once." Celestia said before teleporting them both away.

Shadow looked up at Discord and said sarcastically, "Thanks for ruining my wedding."

"No need to thank me. It's what I do best." Discord replied as though it was a complement.

Shadow wasted no more time talking as he jumped up and attempted to kick Discord. Discord floated up just out of reached and laughed back at him. Discord's laughter was cut short as Shadow teleported directly above him and slammed all four hooves into Discord's face.

"My face! My beautiful face. How could you be so heartless?" Discord screamed.

"You ruined my wedding so now I'm going to ruin you." Shadow replied coldly.

On the side of the room, Rainbow Dash tried to fly over to help Shadow, but Applejack bit down on her tail and prevented her from doing so. Rainbow Dash looked back, obviously annoyed, but Applejack just shook her head. Rainbow Dash settled back down with a grumble and crossed her hooves. Celestia and Twilight appeared next to them with the Elements of Harmony. Twilight passed them out and they all took their places to use them. Celestia and Twilight were taken aback by way lay before them. Discord was lying on the floor bloodied and bruised while Shadow was staring coldly at him.

"You can't defeat me. I'm the god of chaos." Discord said as he stood up and snapped his fingers, which instantly healed him. Discord looked over to Celestia and said, "As much as I want to stay here and watch the mares fight over the bouquet, I would rather not be turned to stone again. I hope the next world enjoys my chaos more than you order loving ponies."

Discord bowed and disappeared before their eyes.

"Shadow, what happened when we went to retrieve the Elements of Harmony?" Celestia asked.

"You obviously hated him, so I tried to stall him until you got back. I did take that time to vent my frustrations, however." Shadow replied.

Celestia turned to one of the guards and asked, "Is there anything you wish to add?"

The guard stepped forward on his metallic leg and replied, "Nothing else to report."

Shadow looked at the guard and asked, "How is your new leg working?"

The guard looked at Celestia, who nodded, before replying, "It works fine. It is a little hard to get used to, but it is better than not having the leg at all."

"You have Seeker to thank for that." Shadow said before turning back to Celestia. "So, can we finish the wedding?"

"Yes, we can. I don't like the thought of Discord being free, but if he went to another world, we can't follow him." Celestia replied.

"I agree sister. Discord is trouble, but this celebration will raise all our spirits." Luna said with a smile.

"So, where was I?" Celestia asked.

"Asking if anypony objected." Luna answered.

"Of course. Does anypony have any reason these two should not be wed?"

Celestia's question was met with silence.

"Very well. I now pronounce you mare and colt. You may kiss the bride." Celestia announced.

Shadow leaned over to Twilight and kissed her. When they broke their kiss, Twilight smiled and threw the bouquet with telekinesis. The mares that were in the immediate vicinity fought over it. Twilight and Shadow laughed at their shenanigans before they spotted Fluttershy sneaking out of the brawl with the bouquet in her mouth. Fluttershy glanced towards them before looking over at Seeker and blushed. Seeker smiled back her causing her blush to deepen.

"Well, we know who the next lucky couple is." Twilight said which caused the mares to quit fighting long enough to notice that Fluttershy had the bouquet.

"Seeker, be nice to her or you will answer to us." Shadow said.

Seeker looked at them both before replying, "Don't worry about us. I would never harm her in any way."

Shadow nodded back to him before asking Twilight, "So, do you want to watch the sunset together?"

"Yes, I would like that." Twilight answered before they walked outside to watch the sunset and Luna raise the moon.

The kissed once more beneath the full moon before heading back inside for the after party.

A Few Hours Later

Shadow and Twilight were worn out by all the dancing they had done with Pinkie Pie.

"Does she ever run out of energy?" Shadow asked.

"Not that I know of." Twilight admitted.

"Mares and gentlecolts, may I have your attention?" Luna announced from the balcony above the dance floor. "Shadow, would you kindly come up here."

Shadow nodded and teleported up next to her.

"Shadow, I would like to offer you a leadership position among my lunar guards. Will you accept?" Luna asked.

Shadow answered immediately, "No."

"I figured as much, but Celestia wanted me to ask anyways." Luna said before asking him another question. "Then would you like to become my personal student?"

Shadow thought for a bit before looking down at Twilight. Twilight nodded her head and mouthed '_Say yes._' Shadow thought for a minute longer before answering her.

"I would be honored to accept." Shadow said.

Luna turned back to the crowd below them and announced, "From this day forth let it be known that Shadow is my personal student."

Shadow smiled down at Twilight while she smiled back up at him.

Three Months Later (At Night)

"Shadow, are you sure we are allowed to be in here?" Twilight asked nervously.

"Of course we are." Shadow answered as he continued to lead her through bookshelves.

"But this is Luna's personal library." Twilight replied.

"And I'm Luna's personal student." Shadow countered. "Plus, if she didn't want me in here, then why did she show me where it was?"

"I still don't think we should be in here." Twilight said.

"Quit your worrying. Besides, this is the only place that has the spell we want." Shadow said dismissively.

Shadow stopped for a moment before smiling.

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

Instead of answering though, Shadow started walking forwards again. A few turns later, they stepped into an aisle with a desk in the middle of it. On top of the desk laid an old, open book.

"I told you it was here." Shadow said as he stepped up to the book.

"Good, let's copy the spell and get out of here." Twilight said while nervously looking around. "I feel like we are being watched."

"That's because we are." Shadow said without looking up from the book.

"What? By who?" Twilight said surprised.

"By me." Luna said as she stepped out of the shadows.

"P, Princess Luna. I, I'm sorry we…" Twilight started to say before Luna cut her off.

"Twilight, Shadow already asked if he could bring you here to learn that particular spell. I'm just here to make sure nothing goes wrong." Luna explained.

Twilight back and forth between Luna and Shadow before yelling, "Why didn't you tell me Luna said we could be in here?"

"I told you we had permission to be here." Shadow replied. "Are you ready to cast this spell?"

"Yes I am." Twilight replied.

"Ok then, close your eyes and lean your head forward." Shadow instructed to which Twilight did. "Now this is going to sting a little."

Shadow used a small dagger to cut both of their hooves. Twilight gasped, but kept her eyes closed. Shadow mixed their blood together then used it to draw the symbol for unity on both of them around their horns. (If you search google images for 'symbol for unity,' it is the one with three overlapping circles.) Shadow then stood in front of Twilight and crossed his horn with hers. Shadow started the spell and Twilight lent him her energy. A few moments later the spell ended, but it looked like nothing had changed.

"Did it work?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, it did." Luna answered.

"How can you tell?" Twilight asked.

"Look at you cutie marks." Luna replied.

They both looked at their cutie marks, and then each other's. On both of them, was a miniature, blood red symbol for unity.

"Shall we try it out?" Twilight asked Shadow.

"_Does this answer your question?"_ Shadow answered telepathically.

Twilight smiled at Shadow while Luna groaned.

"Try to stay out of trouble you two." Luna said as she turned to leave.

Shadow and Twilight looked at each other before they answered, "We will try."

**Author's Notes**

**Seeker belongs to Seeker Pony engineer.**

**Well, that's it for this story. Don't worry though, cause there shall be another. I will be taking a break from writing for a while to clear my head and get my ideas straight. As for my next story, I will be attempting a crossover fic.**

**It was a pleasure working with all of your OC's, and thanks again for letting me use them.**

**Until next time.**

**Let the light be your guide as the shadows cloak your presence. ~ Me (Made it up just now.)**


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